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Amora stepped out of the lobby doors of the Hero offices in San Francisco, a handful of mail mostly consisting of fan letters and invitations gripped in one hand as she descended the steps down onto the sidewalk.  She stopped and sifted through the envelopes, reading the names on the return addresses.  She would take an hour or so during dinner to read and answer some of them then bring them back the next day and off they would go to their respective recipients.  Amora enjoyed the social aspect of her job.  She liked meeting her fans.  It beat punching thugs to a pulp all day.  The down time was a good way for her to relax and deal with a calmer side to life.
    She put the letters in her purse and fixed her sunglasses on the bridge of her nose and began to walk down the street when a small voice said, "Miss Titania?"
    Amora turned around and a little girl was standing further down the sidewalk.  When the girl saw that Amora had heard her, she inched up to her.  She held out a photograph of Amora wearing her costume, a publicity still mass produced for times such as these.  "You're my favorite hero," the girl said.  "Can you sign my picture."
    Amora smiled at the little girl and squatted down to be closer to her.  "Of course I will," she said, rummaging around in her purse for a pen.  She pulled one out and took the picture.  "What's your name, baby?" she said.
    "My name's Daphne."
    "That's a lovely name for a lovely girl.  I'm so happy to meet you, Daphne."  She wrote a note to Daphne on her picture and signed it for her.  "Where's your parents?"
    Daphne pointed back and Amora could see a man and a woman waving, keeping their distance.  Amora waved them over and they approached.  "Thank you for taking time out of your day to meet Daphne," the woman said, her voice so soft that Amora almost didn't hear her.  She could see where Daphne's timidity came from.  "She says she's your biggest fan."
    "I believe it," Amora said.
    "Can we get a picture?" Daphne asked her parents.
    "You'll have to ask Miss Titania," her father said.
    Daphne looked up at Amora and said, "Can we get a picture, Miss Titania?"
    "I'd love to get a picture with you," Amora said.  She squatted down behind Daphne and held her shoulders and rested her chin on Daphne's little shoulder and smiled for the photo.  Her father took a few pictures, then Amora held out one arm and flexed and Daphne copied her and her father took a few more.  "These are great," he said.  "Thank you, ma'am."
    "Thank you, Miss Titania," Daphne said.  Her eyes seemed to glow now.  
    "You're welcome," Amora said, giving her a kiss on her cheek.  She looked at the father.  "Would you mind making some copies of those pictures and mailing them to me?  I keep a little fan book at home.  I like making these memories, too.  You can send them to the main address here," she pointed to the Hero offices, "and they'll forward them to the right people to get them to me.  And," Amora looked at Daphne, "if you ever want to write me a letter, you can send it to the same place and I'll get it, too.  That's how I got these."  She showed Daphne the other letters she had with her.
    "Really?" Daphne said, in shock.
    "Really," Amora said.
    "I'll write you a letter tonight," Daphne said.
    "I'll be looking for it," Amora said.
    With that, Daphne's parents thanked her for her time, but they had to go.  Amora said goodbye to them and watched them go, waving at Daphne each time she looked back until they had disappeared.

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + @amora + wearing

Paladin had been standing just inside the doors, shielded from the sun and prying eyes by the tinted glass. She was glad of it as she watched the adorable scene taking place out on the sidewalk. Paladin was not too enamoured of the publicity side of being a Hero, she appreciated its importance, and she certainly wasn't complaining about the extra paycheques, but she didn't like being the centre of attention in the way that she all too often was now. It was nice to see this side of that publicity, the side that included cute little girls asking for pictures. She didn't want to intrude, and instead watched as the little girl's father took a few photos. She almost aww'ed out loud as the little girl mimicked Titania's flexed arm. The family left, the little girl obviously still a little awestruck that she had met her hero. As they disappeared out of sight Paladin stepped out through the glass doors, looking the same way as Amora was. She was dressed in her costume, the white and metallic areas bright in the San Francisco sun. Her hair flopped about her head, the blue bright in the heat. Even next to the taller Titania, Paladin looked imposing, thanks to the well-designed costume and the hours upon hours of coaching from Dominic and his team. The training regime she maintained as a Hero certainly helped her in that respect. "That part of it never really gets old does it. I wish all of it was like that." She sighed, unfortunately all of it was not like that. Frequently she found herself ambushed by paparazzi at crime scenes or even outside the doors of the office. Journalists were always looking for a quote regarding something, and a moment without fans was rare and precious. Fortunately it seemed they had perhaps a minute of breathing room before said horde of adoring fans approached. Perhaps they found the appearance of two Heroes together more than a little intimidating. "You must be Titania, visiting from New York right? I'm Paladin." They barely had thirty seconds more before a crowd of what looked like tourists spotted them from down the street and began to rush towards them. Most of the people of San Francisco were used to the sight of Paladin, for which she was eternally grateful. But here was the Hero of their city stood beside a notable Hero from another. It wasn't every day you saw that.

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Amora was still looking down the street when she heard a voice beside her.  She looked and was a little startled by the shock of blue hair and the loud costume to go with it - although she had seen far worse color schemes out there.  And in the end, what did it matter?  There was a good reason Paladin had the costume designed this way, and she had likely worked with many professionals to get it just right for her.  Perhaps the surprise at seeing it was intentional.  Amora liked to think of some thug being distracted by the outfit long enough to be taken out with relative ease.  "I agree," she said to the girl.  "You have to wonder why it is so difficult for some people to just do the right thing.  But if it were that simple I guess you and I would be out of a job."
    Paladin introduced herself and Amora said, "That's right.  It's nice to meet you, Paladin."  Amora fumbled with her mail and said, "I decided to come by.  Managed to grab some letters here before they were sent to New York.  With these and public appearances and everything else, it's a wonder I have any time to actually do some good at all.  But, to be honest, this is my favorite part of the job.  Oh, sure, stopping thugs is fine, but I like dealing with, well, good people.  The publicity part of the job.  I don't know.  Maybe I'm just weird."  She took a deep breath and let it out.  "You have a lovely city.  You're doing a fine job from what I can see so far.  How have you been doing?"

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + @amora + wearing

"You're probably right, which just makes it even more depressing." Paladin glanced at the bundle of letters in Amora's hands. She knew how that felt too. When she'd agreed to the whole concept of the Hero Program she'd never imagined it would end up in the way it had. She was a celebrity now, had sponsorship deals with Nike and Under Armour, as well as others in the works for various other companies. Everyone wanted a slice of the Hero Program's shining star. Sometimes she wished that she had said no to Dominic, had come out in the second wave of Heroes announced by the Program. Instead she'd been one of a handful of dedicated and powerful individuals that everyone in the country now knew by sight. There were good parts to that media attention though, parts such as the one Paladin had just watched Amora undertake. Sometimes it felt like that made the rest worth it. "I think if you enjoyed stopping thugs more than parts of the job like that," she nodded in the direction the girl had disappeared in, "Then you might not be suited for this job at all." She glanced around a little. Smiling in the sun. "Thank you, but I'm not the only Hero here, just the most well-known." It helped that she was the strongest brick on record. Although sometimes that was just as much of a problem. People mostly thought her power was very simple, that she was just super strong and super tough. Inevitably that meant that macho, super strength thugs called her out to prove their superior strength. That their increased strength only made her more powerful was a jealously guarded secret of the Program. Her fame and power had attracted a number of recruits to the San Francisco Hero Program, and that would only make the city safer. "I've been good, this is a good city to work in, with good people. Even when you're as easily recognisable as we are." They were swarmed by the tourists a moment later and Paladin found herself posing for selfies and signing autograph books.

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[Deleted]

Amora smiled and nodded.  Every bit of help was appreciated, she was sure.  The major cities typically benefited from more metahumans for several reasons, including increased likelihood due to an already impressive population and more publicity.  A place like Amora's own Pluto usually missed out.  She was sure Jackson and Vicksburg and the other larger places had a handful, though.  Or at least they did.  She had not asked her parents about it for some time.  Things might have changed since the last update from them, but Amora doubted it.  Mississippi didn't really change all that much, which, as Amora had seen, could be both good and bad depending on the situation.
    She didn't know what it was like being the most well-known Hero in a city.  Sure, Amora was popular, but she didn't know how she ranked among others in New York.  Nor did she really care.  As she was sure was the case for Paladin, Amora did not look at aforementioned rankings as a contest by any means.  She figured there were those who did, but she had not met any yet.  As had already been shown, she had her own following and she respected the responsibility that came with it, but she did not consider her popularity as the sole meaning of her existence.  "I'm glad to hear it," Amora said.  "I think--"
    But before she could finish her thought a gaggle of fans spotted the duo together and swarmed them, asking for pictures and autographs.  In between smiles and signing her name, Amora said to Paladin, "You said you are the most well-known here.  Do you get to work with any of the others very often?  Do you get along pretty well?"

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + @amora + wearing

The two Heroes managed snatches of conversation between pictures and autograph signing, difficult though it was with the babble of the excited fans. She took the sharpie that was brandished in her face and signed a t-shirt, before posing with the owner of said t-shirt for a selfie, once that was done and the excited fan was cooing over their phone screen she looked over his shoulder to Titania. "Oh yeah, quite a lot really. I haven't met a Hero I haven't liked yet. And it just makes things easier to have someone watching your back." She crouched down next to an excited child wearing a t-shirt with a facsimile of her chest armour printed upon it. They didn't have blue hair, but the cap they were wearing was a pretty good approximation of the shade that Paladin's hair was currently died. She mimicked Titania's earlier pose, flexing one arm, and the little girl did the same. As she stood she shrugged, "Maybe I'm just easy going though. But they seem pretty strict with the requirements for the program, people have to be able to deal with the work and the fame." After some time the crowd cleared, the group moving away, glancing over their shoulders and talking amongst themselves, amazed that they'd actually had a chance to see Paladin and Titania, especially since one of them was based in new York. No doubt there would be a host of new posts on HeroFandom before the end of the day. "I've actually been pushing for more team-ups. I've had enough situations where I needed someone watching my back, or where I was lucky enough to have someone to know that it's better than the whole solo Hero shtick. I think having proper teams set up would be better for everyone but I have to convince the people at the top of the Program. Shouldn't be hard, I mean, there are SWAT Teams right?"

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